Fortuna City Council opposes pot deliveries, hears about recycling crisis

The Fortuna City Council voted unanimously Monday evening to send a letter to the state Bureau of Cannabis Control opposing proposed regulations. In particular, Fortuna is against a rule that would allow deliveries within city limits and another rule that reduces the time local municipalities will have to verify a licensee has the proper permits.

“The City of Fortuna strongly objects to two proposed changes that we view are in fundamental conflict with both the language and intent of Proposition 64 and will undermine our city’s ability to effectively regulate cannabis at the local level,” a letter to be signed by Mayor Sue Long states.

The City Council maintains the changes will cut into ability to sustain local control.

“California’s voters were assured that ‘64 preserves local control’ and these regulations chip away at the very foundation of local control by allowing cannabis deliveries to every jurisdiction in California,” the letter stated.

City Councilman Dean Glaser asked the item be removed from the consent calendar.

“This is a hot potato because it’s something that appeared out of nowhere,” Glaser stated. “... We never saw this coming when we approved cannabis legalization. This bill will actually trump the efforts we are doing in our county.”

Councilman Doug Strehl was particularly concerned about the deliveries.

“This takes the local control away,” he said. “If this passes, any dispensary can bring their product in our city.”

Glaser noted that might already be taking place.

“They are doing this everyday on Craigslist,” he said.

The letter to the Bureau of Cannabis Control noted there could be repercussions of deliveries.

“The city believes that cultivation, processing, and distribution, such as forced cannabis deliveries, may result in adverse impacts including offensive odors, illegal sales and distribution of marijuana, trespassing thefts, violent robberies and robbery attempts,” the letter states. “Potential criminal tracking of the deliveries and routes may put both the drivers and the recipients in danger, as well as others commuters and pedestrians in the line of sight of the vehicle.”

“At least we’ll go down fighting,” Glaser said.

Recology report

“There is a crisis in the recycling market,” Recology Humboldt County General Manager Linda Wise told the Fortuna council.

She said that China’s new limitations are making it more expensive to recycle and less profitable.

“Recycling is only a value in a lot of people’s minds if there is a price,” she said. “But its only value is if it’s used again.”

She said that 40 percent of material Humboldt County recycles is a “negative value” — essentially it costs more to recycle it than it produces in value.

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She said the problem is not going away any time soon. And, in the end, it’s likely going to mean steeper rates passed on to customers.

She said that there is ongoing work at looking at other markets for recyclables, but that one of the biggest issues is contaminations — and that is something that consumers can do something about.

“Keep the food out of [the recycling bin],” Wise told the council. “There are things we pull out everyday like watering hose, clothes, diapers, prescriptions ... I don’t want to clean the peanut butter out [of a container before recycling it], but that’s one of the things we have to do.”

Some council members expressed surprise that certain items were not recyclable — items such as pizza boxes, which contain food waste, cannot be recycled. Neither can Post-It notes.